Calvary Life in Tent and Field by Mrs. Orsemus Bronson Boyd

Published:  1894
My Experience:  Fascinated and Amused and Impressed
Synopsis:  The first person account of life as an officer’s wife in the years 1868 to 1885.  From New York to California,  Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and back again, her view is domestic, with special attention to the lot of the wife and family of a soldier on the frontier.


The Preface begins oddly, a defense of her husband as a young man that struck me as a bit, well, unusual.  Don’t we generally tell the best of our lifetime then briefly shrug off the troubles of youth with a footnote or addendum?  However, I read it through since the tone was so very earnest and the adjectives used moderately.  By the end of the Preface, my sympathies were not only engaged, so was my interest.

I was captured by her brevity of descriptions detailing her journey from New York to California by ship, then overland by stagecoach and army ambulance (not because she was injured but because it was the only way for a “lady” that didn’t ride to travel) to her bridal home.  Her prose is clipped with tight wording, broad allusions and sprinkled with her opinions - always labeled as such and most generally backed up by some incident or anecdote that shows her in a less than favorable light.

Exceptional Read: A Gentleman's Gentleman by Sir Max Pemberton 1896

I define an Exceptional Read as a well written book that shakes me up, emotionally or mentally. It stops me in my tracks for some reason; challenges me to consider things that really - in my ordinary existence -  make no difference. An Exceptional Read challenges my thoughts, emotions, and spirit. I'm convinced, even if only for the span of the book, it should matter to Every Being in the Universe.  There are qualifiers to exceptional reads.  The label I apply depends on my mental engagement and my emotional response.  Your mileage may vary.

A Gentleman's Gentleman:  Being Certain Pages from the Life & Strange Adventures of Sir Nicolas Steele, Bart. as Related by His Valet Hildebrand Bigg, 1896

"They say no man is a hero to his valet.  Maybe they speak truth, though for my part, I wouldn't pass that for a good saying."

Sir Max Pemberton uses the voice of Hildebrand Bigg to speak about men, romance and life as the turn of the century approached.  He does so with his tongue in his cheek, the haze from his pipe gentling images and perhaps a bit of disdain for lesser mortals. His style of writing captures you from the first and there are times you aren't quite sure if this is actually fiction or not.  I think he was a bit of a rascal too....